This invention relates to an injection hopper adapted for use in a material delivery system for the environmental treatment of solid, semisolid, and liquid waste. Such waste is commonly generated as a by-product of industrial plants, and then stored in man-made sludge lagoons for later processing. The delivery system conveys sludge-hardening reagent from a supply location at or above the sludge surface to a working location below the surface in the lagoon. A rotating mixer assembly blends the reagent and sludge together. The resulting mixture reacts causing the lagoon to harden sufficient for supporting trucks and other vehicles. After treatment, the solidified lagoon can be capped with a protective layer and used as a parking lot, equipment storage area, or the like.
According to one prior art waste treatment system, an industrial excavator including rotating tines 5-15 feet long is used for injecting and blending a reagent slurry below the surface into a waste lagoon. Unlike the present invention, this system is inapplicable for pneumatically conveying dry reagent from a supply location at or above the surface to a working location below the surface. Moreover, the prior art system does not include a reagent storage hopper attached directly to the stick of the excavator and adapted for being carried downwardly into the lagoon to treat the lagoon from the bottom up.
Other prior art waste treatment systems employ an excavator with a mixing assembly mounted on the stick and a remote reagent delivery source. These system are generally incapable of properly supplying and controlling reagent delivery to the specific target area being treated. Such problems typical result in treated areas having non-uniform hardness and consistency.